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Milestone achievement for city library

Milestone achievement for city library
​One the oldest and youngest members of the Bankstown Library have helped celebrate the service’s 70th birthday.
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Milestone achievement for city library
Milestone achievement for city library

2/12/2016

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2/12/2016

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​One the oldest and youngest members of the Bankstown Library have helped celebrate the service’s 70th birthday.

Mrs Murray, who has been a library member for more than two decades “It’s a good library for children and adults because there’s a variety of classes, books, and technology to suit everyone,” Mrs Murray, a library member for more than two decades said.

“My favourite is the knitting group. I go to each week because I get to socialise withmy friends and knit at the same time.”

The city’s first library opened in 1946, in Restwell Street, and was the first public library in Western Sydney to be established under the newly proclaimed Libraries Act.

It began operating as a children’s library, holding just 1,500 books.

Today, there are seven libraries in the City of Canterbury Bankstown, 186,418 books andmore than 70,000 members.

The library’s local studies and family history specialist, Jenni Madden, who has worked at the library for 40 years, said the biggest change she’s seen over the years was the introduction of technology.

“When we started, we had a card catalogue and now we have a fully computerised library system,” she said.

In 1955, a branch library provision program was adopted, with Chester Hill selected as the site for the first branch library – opening its doors in 1958. Padstow Library soon followed by opening its doors in 1959, Greenacre in 1961 and then Panania in 1969.

The latter was at the time, the largest branch library in NSW. Bankstown Library is now known as Bankstown Library and Knowledge Centre, following its construction at a cost of $20 million.